A Life, Despite All - SOS ARTist Residency
Using large-scale portraiture alongside smaller ambiguous paintings, A Life Despite All manifests the relationship between the trans community and the anxieties surrounding it, creating a visible "dual state." This explores the relationship between a real living person and the intangible abstract ideas used to restrain one's lived experiences - the reality of day-to-day existence and the unseen fears surrounding it. In this relationship, the ominous and uneasy imagery of the smaller abstractions hold little presence in comparison to the vitality seen in each person's portrait. Meanwhile, each portrait depicts a simple and human moment chosen by the individual's answer to the question: What everyday moment makes you feel the most human? Within these moments of cooking, working out, or just taking a break, there is a universal bridge between differing beliefs and opinions that is often ignored in our digital age. Despite all our differences it connects every one of us. And regardless of the struggles inflicted on the trans community through legislation or otherwise, it does not stop the trans community from living no different of a life than anyone else in their day-to-day, despite it all.
Working from April through June 2026, Charlemae Sexton was the artist in residence at the Fitton Center for Creative Arts in Hamilton, Ohio alongside the non-profit SOS Art, based in Cincinnati, Ohio. During this time she created eight original works, later displayed in the Fitton Center's Community Gallery between June 26th and July 21st, 2026. This show is dedicated to Cyrus
The following texts and works are from the community gallery during the showing of A Life, Despite All:
A Moment with Eddy
Oil on Canvas, Pine Frame - 3' x 3 1/2' - 2026
If you would like to read the text interview that accompanied A Moment with Eddy please click here.
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
Out of Gas
Oil on Canvas, Pine Frame - 16" x 20" - 2026
Whether or not a trans person has been a victim of violence, the understanding that they are statistically more at risk can follow them even to the most mundane of necessities. Out of Gas grapples with this omnipresent fear alongside the feeling that there is nowhere to hide. It is loosely inspired by a real experience of mine when I was walking out of a gas station and four men were standing at all four corners of my car staring me down. I quickly got in the car and left as fast as I could, I was out of gas and had no choice but to stop.
A Moment with Jaclyn
Oil on Canvas, Pine Frame - 3 1/2' x 4' - 2026
If you would like to read the text interview that accompanied A Moment with Jaclyn please click here.
.jpeg)
Formerly Domestic
Oil on Canvas, Pine Frame - 16" x 20" - 2026
For many queer people, especially those in rural areas, the divide between their past and current life is a divide they have no control over. It's sadly not uncommon for family to not accept the changes and disregard the familial relationship, and in worse cases get violent. The divide of lost relationships continues into friendships and other spaces of a trans person's life, creating a sensation of being tossed aside by those they cared for. Formerly Domestic depicts this uneasy feeling with a familiar creature, the pigeon, a domesticated animal that was a beloved pet and friend for centuries before being tossed aside and seen as a "rat with wings."
A Moment with Jay
Oil on Canvas, Pine Frame - 3 1/2' x 4' - 2026
If you would like to read the text interview that accompanied A Moment with Jay please click here.
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
Inseparable Life
Oil on Canvas, Pine Frame - 16" x 20" - 2026
Often, it's assumed that trans people feel ashamed or embarrassed when they see pictures of themselves before their transition. That they struggle to see themselves as a kid while still feeling connected to the person they see in the mirror. Inseparable Life focuses on the reality where many trans people feel deeply connected to the kid they used to be. Many feel such a connection that seeing these pictures can bring confidence for who they are now as an adult because they feel more authentically themselves just as a kid is regardless of gender.
A Moment with the Artist
Oil on Canvas, Pine Frame - 3 1/2' x 4' - 2026
If you would like to read artist's response to the questions asked in the interviews, which accompanied A Moment with the Artist, please click here.
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
Religious Walls
Oil on Canvas, Pine Frame - 16" x 20" - 2026
In many religious spaces, the trans community is treated as a problem, a life inherently sinful, despite the fact that many genderqueer people were raised within the church. Once they come out, these spaces become unaccepting and unwelcoming, regardless of if their faith remains. Religious Walls is inspired by the faith some queer people still carry after coming out and leaving these spaces. Some believe that people can't be transgender because God doesn't make mistakes, but some trans people believe it wasn't a mistake in the first place, but instead a sign that the spirit goes beyond a physical body.
Accompanying Text Displayed in Gallery:
